The Missing Piece of Me
by OkaAyamo
Summary: Saved by the Celestial Being, a young girl who suffered multiple experiments, giving her a hidden ability. Her life turned upside-down in the organisation. New friends, wars, bitter truth, shocking past, new enemies, and...new love? SetsunaxOC
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the character in Gundam 00, but I do own my OC(s) and this fanfic's plot.

A/N: You can find out more about the mystery of my OC revealed on the later chapter. And you may skip this chapter. Enjoy reading!

**The Missing Piece of Me**

Mission 0

==||Prologue||==

A small girl ran joyfully across an emerald-green-grassed field. Nine years old, she could not be older. Her parents greeted her as soon as she stepped into the house, clothes dirty and disheveled. Grinning, she jumped to her seat around the rectangle wood dining table, ready for her lunch. Her parents laughed and joined her, her mother serving the food. The mother cleaned her daughter's mud-covered face with a damp cloth before starting their lunch. They had a chat and when they finished, the small girl dashed out of the house to meet her friends, biding her parents a quick good-bye. Her friends had been waiting for her, waving their hands upon her arrival. The girl grinned back and rushed towards them.

Five years ago, she moved from her hometown with her parents. Living happily and peacefully with her parents, she could wish for no more. Her parents were kind and loving, and they always wanted the best for their one and only beloved daughter. They lived far from the city, together with some other immigrants from different countries. Despite their differences due to the old culture back in their country, they somehow managed to live together. The small isolated village was filled with joy and serenity, and the people could not help but to feel contented with their lives.

However, one incident turned everything upside-down.

The nine-year-old girl went back to her home when twilight approached the day. A contented smile on her face after all the activities she did: playing in the shallow clean cool river, trying to catch fishes, and spraying water to one another. Her bedraggled clothes clung to her small body. The evening breeze was a bit too chilly that day, and so she silently hoped she would not catch a cold. The sun was almost fully setting down, she noticed. Wishing not to get scolded by her parents for coming back too late, she dashed down the hill, to her home.

Opening the door with a loud bang, she got a light scolding from her father, who was in the living room reading book, relaxing after his work. She giggled and said a 'sorry' quickly and carelessly. From the kitchen, her mother appeared and bent down, giving her a gentle kiss on both cheeks. As always, her mother lifted her up and questioned her of her day. The small girl told her mother almost every-minute details excitedly, her smile never faltered and an occasional giggle could be heard. Her mother shushed her and chuckled, amazed at her enthusiasm. They entered a room with a door decorated with beautifully engraved hanging panel with one word craved on it, 'Anna'.

Anna's mother bent down and set her daughter down, to which the girl immediately dashed to her bed and jumped to and on it. The older woman smiled and shook her head, taking some changing clothes from the wardrobe. Anna waited for her mother to approach her place and helped her changing her soaked clothes into a dry one. Afterwards, her mother sat down next to her as she went on rambling with her stories. Her mother would chuckle or laugh when she started to jump on her bed or flailing her hands in the air to dramatize the story.

In the middle of the story-telling, they heard a loud noise coming from downstairs. Instinctively, Anna jumped to her mother's lap and hugged her around her stomach tightly, trembling slightly. Blinking and frowning in confusion, the blonde-haired girl looked up to her mother. Her mother wrapped her arms around her daughter protectively, soothing her with comforting pats on the head. Her father's footsteps could be heard and followed by hurried knocks on the door. Not waiting for a reply, he slammed it open hastily and rather angrily. The head of the family approached them and whispered to his wife, causing her to be wide-eyed. The child looked back and forth between her parents, uncertainty filled her mind.

Without a warning, her mother let go of her and stood up, closing herself to the dark-blue haired man. The parents discussed something with such a low voice that she could not hear them, occasionally they would glance at her. Her mother stared at her child and then to her husband with sadness and fear, to which the man nodded somberly. Anna questioned them, what was going on. They did not reply, instead, her mother walked to her and hug her, kissing her forehead tenderly, tears brimming in her eyes. She again asked, more demanding this time. Her father mimicked his wife's previous action, and added an additional pat on her head, telling her to live on. With a quick bid of 'good bye' and 'I love you', they scurried out of the room, leaving the poor confused child alone.

She pouted and sat cross-legged on her bed, crossing her arms in annoyance. Why would her parents suddenly become so secretive? They had always told her what was on their mind, she was now angered. Lying on her stomach, she buried her face into her pillow. It was strange, though, especially all of those turmoil which happened just very recently. Even with her curiosity of the recent occurrence, she could not hold her eyes opened a little longer. Exhaustion took over and she closed her eyes, falling into a deep slumber and dead to the world.

Several hours later, a big explosion and tremor caused her to jolt awake from her deep sleep. Blinking furiously, she glanced outside her window, hearing many panic voices and screams. In a matter of seconds, she had jumped from her bed and opened her room's door, no longer remembering her father's command. Half of her house had been devastated and she rushed to search for a safe place, frightened. Putting on her shoes, she gulped before advancing towards the front door. She could not stay in a now-not-safe house of her. A loud gasp escaped her lips as a sickening and horrifying scene lay in front of her very eyes.

Blood, burnt trees, dead bodies, firearms' blast, and devastated houses were very much visible in her eyes. She almost hyperventilated due to the intense fear, her hands covered her mouth. Tears threatened to drop from her eyes as she saw a small bloodied body of a kid younger than her lying motionlessly on the ground near her home, covered with dusts, with a missing left arm. Turning around, she vomited on a ground next to her, body shaking with dread. Her fright was quickly replaced with worry when she remembered her parents. If they were not there, then where were they? Their bodies were not there, she comforted herself. They were still alive.

Praying quietly, she dashed across the battlefield, ignoring everything around her with effort. The smell and sight of blood and corpses almost made her collapsed, but the determination to find her parents kept her moving. Running as fast as she could, she hoped sincerely and strongly that her parents survived. Her run gradually had to come to a halt, she was exhausted. Putting her hands on her knees, she breathed heavily with sweats running down her temple – both from the running and the fear. Her teeth chattered, her palms sweaty, and her eyes watery.

"Mum, Dad, be safe…" She whispered to herself.

She scurried and scanned the area with a quick movement of her eyes. Spotting two somehow-familiar bodies, she came to a sudden stop. Shaking her head in disbelief, she felt tears made their way down her cheeks, to her jaw, and to the bloodied ground. Her fists were clenched tightly, her throat suddenly felt dry as a lump raised to her throat. Her world seemed to stand still, and she was unable to move for minutes, before she finally regained her voice to scream. Shouting at the top of her lungs, she advanced toward the dead bodies. When she was close enough to them, she started to shake and sobbed uncontrollably. The bodies were indeed her parents.

Her head was on her mother's unmoving chest while she sobbed, begging for them to come back to live. Her father had his arm on top her mother, while the other hand held a gun loosely. Her mother's hand was limp on her sides; a bullet had pierced through her heart, leading to an instant death. Her father's eyes were opened, but there was no sign of life inside them. Anna wished she was having a nightmare, the next morning she would wake up discovering her parents alive and well. She knew it was pointless; that was the reality, they were gone…forever.

Although she was weeping, she jerked her head up when she heard steps coming toward her place. Panicking, she searched for somewhere to hide, something to defend herself. She would not die, not in that place, not at that time. Her father had told her to live on; she would follow that last advice of him. Refusing to die pointlessly, she grabbed the gun from her deceased father's hand and pointed it randomly to where the sound was produced. A man suddenly appeared from behind the boulder, the mouth of his riffle facing her. She was trembling visibly, but did not lower her gun.

More men appeared from behind the first soldier and strode towards her. Aghast, she wanted to scream, but one of the men had grabbed her and covered her mouth with his glove-covered hand. Another snatched the gun from her hand and put it on his empty holster. Anna grasped the arm of the man who was holding and covering her mouth, but her grasps were too weak. Two men knelt down next to her parents' corpse, causing her to struggle even more. They whispered something among themselves and gazed at her, wicked smiles plastered on their face. Positively scared, tears streamed down her cheeks as the men advanced towards her. The man took out a syringe and injected an unknown liquid into her vein.

The drugs found its track and did its job fast, spreading into her system, and soon she fell into unconsciousness.

****

"Are you sure she's the one?"

"Yes, Sir, we found her near his body. We have done the DNA test too, it's a match."

An evil laugh echoed in her ears. "Good, Professor Sandberg can be dead, but his daughter can provide us something."

She opened her blue eyes slowly, everything was a blur. Trying to move her arms, but failed. She noticed her legs and arms were locked to a table by leather belts. A groan escaped her mouth, catching the men attention. Her vision cleared up slowly and she was met with a face of a wicked-looking man. He grinned viciously to her and touched her cheek with his cold hand. His evil smile caused her to tremble as fear conquered her mind once again. Laughing at her horror, he pulled back his hand slowly.

"So, girl, do you know where you are?" He asked with a smirk.

Anna scanned the room. It was dim and humid, narrow with black-painted wall, and on top of all, grotesque. The tools and equipments around her were alien to her. Considering the apparatus around her and the smell of disinfectant, she considered the room was either a hospital – most likely were not, a hospital would not lock its patient, unless they were insane. She did not know whether they thought she was insane – or a laboratory. More likely a laboratory, she concluded in her mind. Despite her observation, her mind was still clouded and so she shook her head as an answer.

The bespectacled bulky man nodded. "Oh? So you don't know. Then let me tell you. It's your new 'home'."

She croaked a question, half-dazed. "Why should I consider this as my home?"

"Because," He grinned in satisfaction, raising a syringe, "You are going to stay here, forever."

With that he injected something into her blood stream. At first, she felt nothing but a small speck of pain in her arm, but then a sudden flow of pain entered her body. She screamed in agony and thrashed in the table, wounding her bonded arms and legs, and arched her back. Her heart pounded so loudly that she could hear it so clearly in her own ears. The throbs in her head were killing her and the stabbing pain throughout her whole body was not helping either. The pain was almost unbearable to her, but she managed to withstand it…somehow. After minutes, which felt like days, the pain slowly faded and she fell back into the table, motionless. Her vision was slowly obscured by fog, and she felt an atrocious voice whispered near to her ear.

"Hope you can survive this, girl. Or shall I call you "Number 27" now?"

****

A/N: Please review.


	2. Runaway

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the character in Gundam 00, but I do own my OC(s) and this fanfic's plot.

**The Missing Piece of me**

Mission 1

==|| Runaway ||==

Setsuna entered the main operating room quietly, where the other members of Ptolemaios had gathered. The tactician of the ship was also there, her brown eyes fixed on him. The black-haired teenager only moved to his spot without a word being spoken. She frowned and put her hands on her hip. Allelujah stared at Setsuna as he took his own place. Tieria basically glared at the youngest Meister, before looking away. The brown-haired Meister shook his head and sighed, scratching his head lightly.

"Sumeragi-san, shall we begin?" Lockon asked with a small smile, hoping to ease the tension.

The dark-brown-haired woman nodded, looking to one of her female crews. "Yes, we shall. Christina, if you please."

The light-brown haired woman smiled, nodding, and typed something, causing a picture to appear in the screen. The picture had a location and information about their next mission. It was an enormous tower built in an isolated island in the middle of the sea. The screen showed the structure inside the building: entrance, paths inside, and exit door. Feldt typed something and a long list of names appeared on the screen, scrolling down by itself. The Meisters watched silently as the list went on and on.

"This is your mission." She began. "Wang Liu Mei has provided information about this secret facility. The manager calls it as a 'facility' for kids, but in truth the kids are used as human subjects. Most of the kids are orphans or kidnapped, and after the experiment almost all died."

Lockon opened his mouth, looked aghast. "Do you mean that all these children on the list are the victims?"

Sumeragi nodded sadly in response, looking at the display. The oldest Meister clenched his fists in disgust and rage, not believing such people existed in the world. Allelujah furrowed his eyebrow forlornly; there was another people doing abominable research on human, and the kids were just like him. The others only kept silent, but deep down they were also sickened by such people. The tactician went on with her words, saying that they were to take one particular teenager. The Meisters were a bit confused, but they listened carefully. On her command, the light-brown haired young woman pressed a button that caused the list to stop scrolling.

A name and picture of a girl appeared on the screen, along with her particular beside her photo. She had light-blonde hair and aquamarine eyes. Her skin was pale due to the 'imprisonment'. Her hair was kept in her shoulder-length, or at least that was what the photo showed. The photo seemed to be taken when she was first taken to the facility and it had been years since she remained in that place. There was nothing special in her information. She was fourteen years old by then and had been kept in the facility since she was nine years old. Besides her particular, there was a long list of experiments and dates, most likely records of when she was taken to be a subject.

"Annalina Sandberg," Sumeragi's words broke the silence. "She's your main mission."

"Why is she our main objective?" The purple-haired Gundam pilot questioned emotionlessly.

Sumeragi turned to face the four Meisters. "She is an orphan, her parents died five years ago and she has been taken as an experiment since then. The owner of the facility noticed her as 'special' since she had survived many experiments. He planted a nano-machine that will transform her body, making her a human-weapon."

The brown-eyed raven-haired Meister tightened his grip discreetly. Another person who used kids as his weapons, how many people like that existed in the world? He glanced back at the photo. Her fringes were uneven and covered most of her eyes, looking impassive. If someone looked closely, they would notice the drying streaks of tears on her cheeks.

Sumeragi commanded the Meisters: Lockon and Allelujah to distract and fight the enemy's units, Tieria to defend the others, and Setsuna the task to save the girl. The Meisters agreed and proceeded to their respective Gundams in a quick pace. The other members readied themselves for the launches of the units, sitting in their own position. Sumeragi retreated herself and exited the controlling place, leaning against the wall outside the room. Her mind was filled with the information she was yet to tell her team.

"The irony is, the one who started this 'Enhancer Project'," she took another deep breath and exhaled slowly. "…was her father."

[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]

"Get up, Number 27!" Someone grabbed her arm and lifted her up to her feet.

Anna felt herself being dragged, her head spinning. The effect of the last experiment had not gone away and she was to be taken another test. She coughed slightly and moved her feet, although barely. In front of her, many other kids had lined up. Most of them were younger by her, since she was the longest child who lived there. Most of her other friends had passed away because of the extensive experiments. She did not understand why she could survive.

Her feet wobbled as the man let her go and she slumped against the wall tiredly. What else would they want from the children? The younger kids looked horrified, some confused – the newcomers – and she felt a pity for them. They would suffer the same fate like her. A group of men approached and examined them closely. She knew what they wanted: a suitable kid for a new subject. Finally, they took one kid with them and brought him to another room, earning a frightened murmur from the rest.

"Shut up!" One of the scientists ordered harshly.

A silence ensued in the room.

The blonde girl shook her head, but regretted her action as she got a stabbing pain in her head. Cursing the nano-machine put inside of her, she slowly took a deep shaky breath to calm herself. To her experience, she knew the man would soon do their duty on taking attendance of the kids. It was called 'Morning Assembly' by the manager of the place, checking the still-alive children and commanding them for their next tasks. Anna moved forward to join in the first line. Her number was the smallest of all – being the most senior subject – and she was always checked first.

"Are you okay?" The person next to her asked in a hushed tone.

She looked up to her friend, forcing a smile to her face. "I'm fine."

The brown-haired guy only nodded his head silently. He was younger than her by a year, but still taller, and had been kept for three years. An orphan as his parents passed away because of chronic diseases. He suffered from amnesia and did not remember his own name; she usually called him "Forte" since he was number 40. His gray and green eyes stared attentively at Anna. However, the girl was not paying attention to him, nor did she pay attention to other things around her.

"Number 27, are you listening to me?" The bulky man shouted at her, irritated at her unresponsiveness when he called her.

She winced, surprised, and answered with a small murmur, "Yes."

The man huffed in annoyance as he wrote something on his panel. "You're going to go under a scan today. We would like to see the development of your body."

She shuddered at the word 'development' – What else had they done to her? Nonetheless, she nodded and complied as she stumbled towards the scanning room, not realizing the worry look Forte kept casting at her.

"I can see the building, Sumeragi-san," Lockon reported as he pushed the side of his helmet to let the front cover down, while the other three did the same upon noticing the edifice, ready for the mission.

"Good, it's time then." The voice of the tactician replied from the communication device. "Mission commences!"

The four Meisters answered with a short 'roger' and split into three different directions almost immediately. Kyrios and Dynames moved to the East, where the base of the enemies was. Virtue followed behind Exia as the blue-white-and-red Gundam advanced towards the main building. There was a commotion when the people noticed their presence, but it had been expected by them before. Exia landed on the ground, sword drawn, and Virtue slowly followed suit, landing behind it. While Setsuna fighting the enemies' suits, the black-white Gundam charged his weapon and aimed it at the building, making a gigantic hole on it. Setsuna took this chance to move towards the opening and got out from his Gundam. He glanced slightly, watching Tieria as the purple-haired Meister defended his Gundam.

Taking out his gun, he held it and ran down the path, following the route he had memorized before. Carefully yet swiftly, he approached the room where his objective would have been kept. The steel door, with only a small window to glimpse at the kid, blocked his way. After examining his surroundings, the black-haired Meister was sure that there was no warden around. Halting at the door, he shot the lock and barged into the room, still as cautious.

As he entered, he was met with a girl with a messy flaxen hair. She was lying on her side on the bed and breathing unevenly, clutching the part of her white plain shirt where her heart was. Eyes screwed shut with tears escaping from them and body shook, she looked so fragile and pale. He opened the front cover of his helmet and slowly made his way towards her and touched her on the shoulder, causing her eyes to snap open. His brown eyes met her ocean-blue one.

"Who are you?" She whispered fearfully, proceeding to sit up. "You are neither one of those scientists…nor their subordinates."

"Setsuna F. Seiei," He answered her question and stood his ground. "Are you Annalina Sandberg?"

She frowned when he pronounced her name, especially her full name. It had been a long time since someone called her like that; she had been called 'number 27' for a long time. "Yes."

He extended his arm at her answer, and continued with his words. "Follow me. I'm here to save you."

Anna gaped at him with wide eyes. "What? What do you mean?"

"You have to leave now, or I'll have to force you," he stated impassively.

The blonde coughed raucously before replying again. "But I can't leave. My friend is here, I can't leave him. He'll be angry at me...and feel dejected." Her voice lowered at the end of her sentences.

Setsuna gritted his teeth in annoyance before grabbed her arm roughly, forcing her to stand up. She was too weak to even stand up properly, and the sudden jerk caused her to slump into his arms. Her hands were gripping his suit tightly, feeling afraid she might fall to the floor. The boy supported her to her feet by putting an arm across her shoulders. Without a further due, he dashed out of the room with her limping besides him. The blonde did not realized, that behind her, Forte was staring; somehow he had managed to escape during the commotion and was worried about her, so he went to check on her. However, he found her running away with a new stranger. His eyes were wide, filled with fury, dejection, and disbelief, as he watched the two figures disappeared from his sight.

"They're here!" someone shouted.

Cursing under his breath, Setsuna dragged Anna to hide behind a pillar as the bullet was shot. They were nearing Exia, but it was too difficult to reach it with those security guards' raining bullets. His hand was on her smaller one while the other held the gun to fire back and defense. The time was now less than five minutes, and the girl was wobbling and tripping on her own foot all the way. It was difficult to go pass through the men with her condition.

Her skin was almost reaching the colour of white snow and she breathed laboriously. Her other hand wiped away the tears that streamed down her cheeks from her eyes as she hiccupped. He noticed her shaking figure as she stared at him with glassy and fearful eyes. She squeaked as another bullet went pass them. The brown-haired Meister tightened his grip before getting out of their hiding and shot back, at the same time taking a chance to get into his unit. Fortunately for them, they managed to get in just in time before the men started to fire again.

He swiftly closed the opened-cockpit of Exia and sat down on his seat, activating the mobile suit. At the same time, he started the mobile suit and closed his cover. Anna forced herself to stand up besides the operator's chair, holding to the seat firmly as if it was her lifeline. As he ascended the unit, the brown-eyed Meister contacted the other Meisters. His mission was completed. He received the fastest reply from the operator of Dynames, who looked perfectly fine.

"Setsuna, are you okay? Did you get the girl?" Lockon's voice and face appeared on the screen.

He nodded in response as Tieria and Allelujah's pictures came on the same screen, below and besides Lockon's one. Anna stared at them in half-curiosity and half-fear. The three pilots noticed her presence on the cockpit; she shyly tried to hide behind the chair, but was unsuccessful. Being the most friendly, the light-brown haired Meister greeted her and smiled warmly. She hesitantly gave a small smile back. Allelujah mimicked his friend's previous action, while Tieria just sighed and broke the contact unexpectedly. The four units returned swiftly to their main ship, Ptolemaios, leaving the chaotic facility.

Silently, after the contact ended, Anna buried her face into her arms. The sudden runaway made her nauseous; and she was tired. The chaos was too much for her mind, and thinking of Forte saddened her even more. He had to feel lonely, maybe disappointed too. Her friend did not know her runaway, but he would be still angered if he found out she was away from the facility, being so selfish only to save her own neck. Knowing him as being obstinate, their friendship bond would unable to be fixed anymore. The thought of being alone once again scared her; she had experienced it during her parents' death. Remembering the terror was too much for her and she ended up sobbing.

The black-haired Meister noticed her weeping, but he did nothing. He was not good in comforting someone, moreover a wrecked girl. Although not obviously shown, she had to be angry at him – that was for sure – he forced her to go with him and leaving someone important for her. If she was mad at him, how could he console her? It was not that important for him, the mission was. Completing the mission was on his top priority and he could care less about the girl or her feeling.

But then, why was he feeling troubled?

[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]

A/N: Please review again, people. Thank you for reading ^_^


	3. New Member

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the character in Gundam 00, but I do own my OC(s) and this fanfic's plot.

A/N: Sorry for the long delay. I'm busy with school.

Enjoy!

**The Missing Piece of me**

Mission 2

==|| New Member ||==

Setsuna glanced at Anna once, secretly feeling thankful for her quietness. He did not feel talking to her and he was not that sociable, especially since she was new to him. Lockon and Sumeragi-san could deal with her later, maybe Christina would too. He finally saw his destination, a remote island that was not located in the map that no one but the Celestial Being knew about it. Exia slowed down a bit as it reached the island and placed itself near the huge cliff.

The brown-eyed Meister shut down the system and stood up, earning a confused and fearful look from the girl. Opening the cockpit hatch, he offered his hand to her silently. After eyeing it wearily, she took it hesitantly and together, they get out of the cockpit and to the land. Squinting at the bright sun, she could see they were in a good distance from the land. They descended the mobile suit slowly, with her clinging to Setsuna.

On their way, the citrine-haired clutched on the black-haired guy clothes tightly; standing mid-air was a new experience and it scared the hell out of her. Setsuna had one arm around her petite form. By then, he noticed she was about five inches shorter than him. Her hair had a smell of antiseptic and gunpowder and he mentally reminded himself to make the girl washes away the fetid scent.

Once they reached the ground, Setsuna let go of her and took a step away from her. However, the blonde shifted herself closer to him, feeling insecure in a new and open place. Even though she barely knew him, she could not help but feeling a bit safer with him, and so she stood next to him. Sighing, he took off his helmet and inhaled the fresh air. She warily watched him with a slightly tilted head, her look inquiring and puzzled. He stared back for a short brief time before turning away, feeling uncomfortable at her intense gaze. Seeming to realise his uneasiness, she shifted her gaze to her feet and folded her hands on her lap.

A moment later, they were greeted by Ian who looked ecstatic. The bespectacled man grinned at the sight of Anna, raising one of his hands in greeting. She looked slightly horrified at the sight of a new person and hid behind Setsuna, in a rather close proximity. Ian could not help but to raised an eyebrow in confusion at the reaction. After a short inspection, she shyly replied with a 'hello', unsure whether he was an enemy or a friend. The older man frowned, before smiled slyly; Setsuna had never liking people entering his personal space, but somehow he let this girl popped his personal bubble, even if he later denied it.

He had a feeling something was going to happen between those two.

They all looked up when they heard swishing sounds above them, visioning the three other Gundams. Again, Anna jumped and moved closer to the person who had saved her, her hands on his back. Her eyes screwed shut tightly and she waited until the wind went away and the noise receded. Realizing her face was now a mere inch from his back, she took a step back and murmured a 'sorry' with a slight blush, embarrassed by her own silly action. Setsuna only turned his head and stared at her for a moment, before spun his head back to face Ian. They both exchanged a look, knowing the three other Meisters would come soon.

A loud clacking noise, a rustling sound, moving bushes, and the Gundam Meisters appeared into the view.

"Hey, old man, Setsuna!" Lockon greeted casually, scanning the view in front of him, furrowing his eyebrows. "Where's Anna?"

The flaxen head peeked from behind Exia pilot when she heard someone said her nickname. Her timidity was shown all over her figure. The brown-haired Meister smiled warmly as he advanced towards Setsuna and Anna. The youngest Meister moved away from her, letting Lockon had a good look on her; this time Anna did not shift, she was too scared to move. Seeing so many unknown people reminded her of the men in the laboratory. When the man raised his hand, the girl visibly flinched and closed her eyes before frozen when she felt a gentle hand on top of her head. Questioningly, she looked up at the man who was bending down slightly.

"Don't be afraid," he said soothingly. "We won't hurt you."

She hesitantly nodded, still locked her eyes with the older man. Tear brimmed in her eyes, threatening to fall. Years in the facility had planted fear in her heart, having intense fear of strangers. Nonetheless, she did not pull back. These people had saved her. The last thing she wanted was to make them feeling hurt by her actions. They all looked like kind people, even if they were not showing the quality.

Standing up straight, Lockon pointed to himself using his thumb. "I'm Lockon Stratos, Celestial Being's Gundam Meisters, pilot of Dynames."

"That guy with purple hair is Tieria Erde, also a Gundam Meister," the greenish-blue-eyed man introduced his comrade, indicating to Tieria – who looked away coldly after glared at the young girl.

He moved his thumb to Allelujah's direction. "This guy is Allelujah Haptism."

The young man smiled softly at her, and Anna smiled back automatically. Allelujah felt connected to her; she had gone through the similar thing like him, they would become a fast friend for sure.

"And you have met Setsuna and Ian Vashti." He finally ended with the two people Anna had met previously.

Anna gave a small smile and said while bowing slightly, "Um, nice to meet you."

Lockon grinned in satisfaction upon seeing her ease down a bit, turned to Ian, and questioned the man. "Hey, is there any command from Sumeragi-san?"

"No, not until now," the bespectacled man shrugged, "Although I think she's coming with the rest of the crews to take a nice close look at her." His thumb jerked to Anna, who blinked in confusion, tilting her head slightly to the side.

Ian's prediction was precise. After about half an hour or so, Sumeragi and the rest of the crews came. They all gathered just outside Ptolemaios near the beach of the empty island, looking rather relaxed. Seeing so many people made Anna nervous and shy once again. Instinctively, quietly, she hid behind Setsuna – Ian sniggered at this. Lockon grinned when he noticed Setsuna did nothing to push Anna away his personal space but simply stared into the view in front of him. Exchanging a look with the puzzled crews of Ptolemaios, Lockon gave them a shrug.

Christina was the first to make a move, greeting the blonde excitedly. A bit scared at the cheerfulness of the light-brown-haired woman, she clung to Setsuna's back and used him as a human barrier. By then, Setsuna was feeling quite uncomfortable at their distance. However, he found himself not _really_ willing to push her away. There was something about her that made him accepted her presence. He sighed, noticing the mischievous glint in Sumeragi's eyes; he would have a long way to go with the new girl.

Pouting, the young woman pleaded for the azure-eyed girl to talk. Anna poked her head and giggled when she saw the older woman's funny face. Slowly, she extended her arm and took Christina's outstretched hand, moving away from her 'hideout'. Led by the bubbly crew, she approached the rest of the members of Celestial Being. The group introduced themselves one by one, starting from Sumeragi, Christina called by Chris, Lichtendahl – she could not say his name correctly, so he told her his nickname, Lichty – Lasse, and lastly Feldt. Anna gave them her name and smiled timidly, bowing slightly.

The older light-brown-haired woman smiled brightly, spun around, and hugged Anna tightly, pleased by the blonde's sweetness. The latter went stiff in shock and remained rigid. A hug was such an unusual feeling for her. She remembered when her mother of father embraced her, but it was such an ancient time. Although she felt awkward, she wrapped her arms slowly around Christina's stomach as not to disappoint the hugger. They broke the embrace and Christina started to drag Anna. The other was just staring at the scene, knowing what was going to happen.

"Where are we going?" Anna asked tentatively when they entered the cottage located in the island.

Still beaming, Christina winked at her. "You need a new set of clothes, you know. And I've prepared them for you!"

Hearing the statement, Anna looked down at her current clothes. She was indeed in a plain grayish-white one piece knee-length dress, not quite a sight. The garment itself was shabby. She suddenly became self-conscious of her scruffy appearance, and flushed in embarrassment. Thankfully, Christina was too excited to realise the flush appearing on Anna's cheeks.

"But first, you need to take a bath!" With that, the chirpy young woman pushed Anna inside a bathroom, closing the door, leaving a perplexed Anna inside. Stupefied, the citrine head stared at the closed door with wonder. She spun slowly to find a set of clothes, neatly folded. Half-hesitantly, she peeled off her old clothes, taking a quick shower, and put on the new one. Needless to say, the clothes were much better than the white scruffy garment.

[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]

Chris was waiting with high eagerness for Anna. She had anticipated something like this would happen; after all it was impossible for human subjects to have normal presentable clothes to wear. And so she immediately offered herself to buy new clothes for their new comrade. Elated, she hoped Anna would want to accompany her shopping later on and share an interest in dressing up. A timid stuttering call of her name caused her to spin around and squeal excitedly. As Anna emerged from the bathroom, the young woman was practically dancing in joy.

The new clothes fitted Anna well. The outer cloth was a long one-piece turtle-necked sleeveless greenish-blue zipped dress reaching her knees. It was cut opened in the front, from her waist all the way to the end of the dress, revealing the inner pink long-sleeved shirt with a very wide v-neck cut, not covering her shoulders. She wore blue jeans shorts and knee-length dark green boots.

However, Chris was not satisfied…yet. Anna's hair was a bit of disheveled. Smiling, she brushed it lightly with her fingers and took two green hairpins from her pocket, pinning each on each side of Anna's head, just behind her ears, successfully pinning it. She let several strands of the blonde's hair to frame her hair nicely.

"There! The finishing touch!" The young lady smiled in triumph.

Anna nodded in thank and smiled up shyly, murmuring a 'thank you'. Chris smiled brightly and pulled her again. Anna did not bother asking and just followed obediently. Starting to trust the older girl, she tried to chat with her a bit – or rather, question her, especially about why they saved her and who all of the people were.

However, Chris only giggled and winked at her. "You'll know soon."

Frowning, the blonde waited as the ochre head opened a door, leading to another seemingly-huge room, greeting cheerfully. After Chris entered the room, she motioned to Anna to also come in. Anna walked slowly, hesitantly, and into the bright room. The room, needless to say, was enormous. There was a lot of space in the area, considering only eleven people were occupying it. She could see the sea and trees outside the tall glass window.

Without her noticing, a dark-brown-haired woman approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hello, Anna."

The adult smiled lightly and crouched a bit so that they were on eye level. "I'm Sumeragi, as you know, and I'm the strategist of Celestial Being."

"Celestial Being?" Anna repeated as confusion and inquiries filled her head, "What's that?"

Standing straight, Sumeragi placed both hands on Anna's shoulders. "I'll enlighten you. It's a bit complicated, though. You might take a seat before I start explaining."

Being a submissive girl, Anna nodded and took a seat next to Christina; she had found comfort on the older sisterly figure. She believed that was the most comfortable and suitable seat for her in the mean time. When she sat down, though, she glanced at Setsuna, dressing in casual attire: white long-sleeved shirt, red muffler, and black pants. That was when she realised all the Meisters were in their casual clothes. Lockon with his green t-shirt, vest, and dark blue pants, Allelujah in his black shirt and black trousers, and Tieria wore pink sweater over pale yellow shirt with pale gray pants.

Her attention shifted from Setsuna to Sumeragi when the strategist cleared her throat to get her attention.

"Celestial Being, is a paramilitary organisation, whose goal is to eradicate the war from this world. Of course, we don't do this to gain any profit, simply just to demolish any act of war with all of power and abilities we have. And it means we will take action for any side who tries to cause a war, regardless it's an organisation, country, or political parties; basically, to all humankinds, no matter what the reason of starting the war is."

She paused to take a breath. "Our main weapons, as you have seen them previously, are the Gundams. The four Meisters are the one who take control of them."

"The rest of the crews remain in Ptolemaios. Ptolemaios is our mother ship, where all the information is stored, meeting will be held, and Gundams will be repaired and docked." She stopped short and stared at Anna.

Sumeragi beamed. The look in her face was priceless; it was a mix of amusement, bewilderment, and excitement at the same time. Although among the three, the bewilderment was the most dominant.

With a chuckle, Sumeragi explained about her position, "I'm the tactical forecaster of Ptolemaios. My job it to plan the entire strategies for the intervention and give command in the ship."

At the end of her speech, she stared at her crews and winked.

Being the first to get the cue, Chris chirped, "I'm the tactical operator. I manage the programming and computer as well as the data we received."

The light-brown-haired young woman glanced at the pink-haired one and urged her to speak with her eyes.

Anna turned her head to Feldt when the latter started to talk softly. "I'm a tactical operator, just like Christina."

"I'm the helmsman of Ptolemaios, without me, you will end up crashing into something!" Lichty added the information excitedly. The blonde giggled at his cheerfulness.

Lasse sighed and shook his head disapprovingly at Lichty's action, crossing his arms, "I'm the gunner of the mother ship. To put simply, I defend the ship."

Far ahead next to Lockon was Ian, who grinned and pointed to himself with his thumb. "I'm the head of Celestial Being's mobile suit development. I also work as the ship's main engineer."

Despite her constant nodding, Anna was overwhelmed by the sudden rush of information. She had just met these people, but they were much more than 'common' people. They were on a paramilitary organisation, and were about to commence a war against the world. She felt a bit light-headed when she tried to remember each of their tasks. Her eyes scanned her surroundings, memorizing their faces, duties, position, and names, of course.

She was jerked from her musing when she felt something bounced on her foot. Squeaking, she pulled her feet away from the ground, her knees touching her chest. Down in the floor where her feet was previously located was an orange thing bouncing. She frowned and bent down to examine it, even though she kept her distance. The thing jumped higher, nearly knocking Anna's forehead. The blonde followed the movement of the bouncing robot with her eyes, moving her head up and down, unaware of several pairs of eyes giggling at her natural action.

Lockon grinned when he saw Haro had approached Anna. Somehow, the robot had found its way to the soon-to-be member of Ptolemaios – she was not a member until Sumeragi announced it. Smoothly, he stood up and advanced towards the young girl. He bent down and picked the robot. Upon noticing Anna's amused look, he bent to her eye level, holding Haro in front of her face.

"Anna, this is Haro. Haro, Anna." He introduced the robot to the girl, and vice versa.

Anna shot the man a puzzled look, frowning, turning to the robot with a tilted head. "Haro?"

"Anna! Anna!" The vermillion robot repeated her name, flipping its 'ears'. "Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too!" Anna could not suppress a smile from forming.

"Smile! Smile!" Haro noticed the upwards curve on her lips, happily bouncing on Lockon's hands.

Dynames' pilot grinned at the sight of her bright smile. "Do you want to hold it?"

Excitedly, Anna nodded. Her eyes shimmered with anticipation as the tall man gave her the robot. Haro jumped from Lockon's hands into Anna's lap, bouncing. Anna giggled and tried to take it while it was still mid-air. Again, Haro repeated her name, floating around her head, causing her to laugh. Everyone was taken aback when she laughed, and they could not help but to smile or chuckle at the view. The flaxen-haired girl finally smiled, even laughed.

From the corner of his eyes, Setsuna watched uninterestedly, but still, he watched the girl. The way she laughed was so…airy and pleasant. It was the first time he listened to someone laughed that way – he only heard either a feigned, forced or sad laugh, maybe even no at all – but there was a difference on the blonde's laugh just now. It was genuine, innocent, and pure. His lips twitched to form a smile, however, he suppressed it. He almost jumped in surprise when she shifted her gaze to him, eyes still shining with laughter. Quickly, he broke his eye contact, not noticing the confused look she gave.

Anna stared at the dark-haired boy intensely. Just now, she saw him looking at her, but once they made an eye contact, he hastily broke it. No one noticed the event but the two involved. She wanted to ask him why, but decided to drop the matter off. Haro had stopped bouncing and was staying in her lap, held gently but firmly by her hands. The orange robot was still flipping its 'ears' and Anna lifted it to her eye level, examining it closely.

Talking so softly, she asked the robot teasingly, "Who am I, Haro?"

"Enhancer! Enhancer!" replied Haro.

She frowned and was about to ask further question, when she was interrupted by Sumeragi.

Sumeragi grinned and patted her shoulder. "Do you ever wonder why you are here, Anna?"

Anna nodded; her grips on Haro tightened, and felt anxious and nervous, expecting the answer would come out later.

"Okay, to put simply, we have no idea." The blonde frowned at the remark of the strategist. "But since you're here, you're a part of Celestial Being now. So…what task shall we give to you?"

Thoughtfully, Anna pondered. She was stuck in that facility for quite a long period. In the facility, she did not just undergo experiment. There, she learned a lot of thing, like operating computer and slight programming, putting aside the fact that she was an apprentice. When her parents were alive – she stiffened at the memory – she remembered being taught to read, write, sew, and cook. The basic skills for a female, her mother reprimanded her once when she complained.

Those skills would do no good in this organisation.

Anna casted her eyes down and shook her head, murmuring. "Honestly, I don't know. I can operate computer a bit, and understand about machines, but-"

Chris piped in when she listened. "That's good! Now you can help Ian, can't she, Ian?"

"Of course! It's good to have an assistant!" The bespectacled man grinned.

Anna blinked. "C-can I?"

Ian came to her and ruffled her hair. "Sure thing, kiddo! Just don't make a mess!"

The azure-eyed girl sighed in relief. So there was something she could do after all. She was not useless like what the men back then had always told her. Ian started to tell her the tasks; it was simple, to maintain the Ptolemaios' and the four Gundams' system. Anna was certain she could do that, computer and machine were her good areas, and so she nodded when Ian asked her whether she could cope or not.

"Thank you a lot." Her lips curved up, forming a shy grin. "I won't disappoint you, promise."

The tactical forecaster smiled, crossing her arms. "I believe you. Welcome, Anna, a new member to Ptolemaios."

[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]

The full moon was high in the sky. Its light illuminated the island, the white sands glittering under the soft glow. The rhythmic sound of the waves and the gentle humming of the sea breeze further increased the beauty of the nature. Sitting on the shore, a certain blonde stared at the beautiful scenery. Her knees touched her chest and her arms wrapped around them. Anna still could not believe she was free. She was no longer in the 'confinement'. She smiled at the thought of being free, but it faltered slightly when she recalled of her friend.

Forte, the ochre-haired boy was her only friend in the facility. She was worried about him. He was now alone that she was gone. Would he be angry at her? If only possible, she wanted to take him away with her, but that was an 'if'. The reality was there, she freed and he remained. What she could do was pray, that he would also be freed someday. Then maybe, just maybe, they could meet again. Burying her face into her knees, she sniffed, blinking away the tears. She was so selfish, thinking only her own freedom and not his.

"You should go in, you know, before you catch a cold." A gentle male voice told her.

She lifted up her head and spun it to meet a young man with black hair, his fringe covering his right eye. "Alle…lujah?"

The said man smiled gently, taking a seat next to her. Silently, he watched the girl staring at him. His smile widened slightly when she flashed him a small smile, letting him know she did not mind him accompanying her. However, the smile she gave to him was a sad smile. There was something bothering her; he could see it from her eyes. Inside the depth of the orbs was confusion, sadness, and perhaps…guilt?

"Something's the matter?" He asked finally, after a moment of silence.

She turned her head away from him, putting her chin on her knee caps. "Nothing."

"It must be something, if not you won't avoid my eyes." He patted her shoulder. "You're quite easy to read, Anna." He added.

"It's just…" she paused, trailing off her sentence. "I-I just remembered my friend. He's in the facility as well. I left him during the…you know."

When the man remained silent, she sighed. "I feel bad for doing it. I-I am cruel, aren't I?"

The hint of sadness marred her sweet voice, and Allelujah gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze. The older man could feel her body trembling slightly. Waiting patiently, he waited until she altered her gaze from the sand to meet his eyes. Her blue orbs brimmed with unshed tears, and then the tears slowly made their ways down her cheeks. Giving her an understanding look and smile, he soothed the sniffing girl.

"It's okay. It's not like you had a choice." He chuckled. "Setsuna literally dragged you, didn't he?"

She nodded once, and then grinned a bit at the memory.

"You know, sometimes…" Allelujah closed his eyes, remembering when Hallelujah – or him? – killed their comrades back then. "People have to sacrifice others to survive."

The blue-eyed clueless girl stared at him questioningly, not comprehending what he meant. He sighed and opened his eyes, smiling at the innocent look on her face. Patting her head, he stood up and dusted himself. Unlike him, Anna remained sitting on the sand. The dark-haired man looked at her and saw her waiting for him to continue his words, her face lit up with anticipation, causing a whole-hearted smile to touch his lips.

"Anyway, if your friend really care about you, he should be happy about you now, doesn't he?" He tried to further comfort her.

Anna closed her eyes, taking in his words for some time, and finally smiled, thanking Allelujah sincerely. "I think so, hopefully so. Thank you, Allelujah."

The man nodded his head in response. "Let's go back. It's getting colder outside."

"I want to stay here for a little while. I'll go in soon." She smiled one more time and shifted her gaze to the sea again, admiring the beautiful scenery and enjoying the gentle wind.

With those words, Allelujah walked away from her. Just before he reached the cottage, he immediately shuddered. Calmly, he entered the cottage and warmth enveloped his body. The night air was way too cold in his opinion. It was late at night, and the chilly weather was not suitable for someone to stay outside around the hours. He regretted leaving her in the beach, even if she wanted to stay for a little while. Sighing and closing his eyes, he spun on his heels, intending to go out once again and this time, without failed, would bring Anna back into the cottage. A sound of footsteps and a voice calling his name caused him to stop in his track.

The said man turned to meet a familiar face of his comrade. "Setsuna?"

Setsuna stopped in front of him, and replied coolly. "Sumeragi is looking for you."

"Sumeragi-san is?" He asked in incomprehension.

Allelujah gasped suddenly. "Is something the matter? Does something go wrong?" He asked hastily, worried latched on his voice.

He became more confused when Setsuna did not answer, but only looked away from him. The young boy's eyes were filled with anger, hinted with a bit of sorrow. The younger male closed his eyes and said nothing, walking past the older one and to outside. Allelujah was left in puzzlement, concern filled his mind. Quickly, he walked towards the briefing room. He could hear his own rapid footsteps in the silence of the night. Slamming open the door, he met faces of the whole crews. In the middle of them was Sumeragi, holding a liquor flask.

"What's wrong?" He asked in bewilderment.

Lockon shrugged when no one replied. "Nothing too important, just a bit surprised after hearing a tidbit of important information that was hidden by Sumeragi-san."

Allelujah blinked. "Important information? Hidden? What's this all about?"

The strategist sighed and smiled sadly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hide it, but I have to reconsider everything first."

Taking a deep breath, she continued. "Allelujah, you know about the 'Enhancer Project', right?"

The addressed man nodded. "Yes. It's the experiment project that Anna went through."

"Well, do you know who started the work?" She stirred her drink gently, not looking directly at the Meister.

Allelujah frowned, something was not right. "No, who's it?"

"Sten Sandberg," Lockon answered in place of Sumeragi, giving a photo of a man to the asker.

"Sten…Sandberg…" The black-haired man trailed off.

He picked the picture from Lockon's hand and stared at it. In the photo was a dark-blue-haired man, wearing a white lab coat. He had mildly-tanned skin and broad shoulders. His deep blue eyes were cold and his smile – or smirk – confident. The wide knowledge and intelligence he had showed in the depth of his icy gaze. Those eyes, Allelujah silently thought, those shades of colour, they looked like…

His eyes widened in a sudden realization. "W-Wait, isn't Anna's full name-"

He was cut off by Chris, who replied this time, looking sad. "Annalina Sandberg. Yes, the man who began this experiment was her father."

Allelujah almost forgot how to breathe. Rage and pity for the girl involved filled his system, how could a father do that to his own blood and flesh! He looked down and gritted his teeth, both fists clenched tightly. Everything was clear to him now, why everyone looked so gloomy. The rest of the people stared at the man who had just figured out the truth, knowing exactly how someone would feel the first time they heard the breaking news.

"Don't get it wrong." The woman told quietly. "Her father started it, yes, but it was not him who had hurt her."

Allelujah was puzzled, and glanced back at the photo. He realised there was another picture behind the first one. Putting the second on to the front, he scanned the photograph. The second picture had the same man, but this time he was smiling happily, a woman with pale skin, blonde hair, and honey eyes besides him, smiling softly yet brightly. On the woman's arms was a kid, barely a year old judging from its height, with short blonde hair and sapphire eyes. Little Anna, the man smiled lightly, she still looked similar with her child figure.

"Wang Liu Mei provides us with this new information. Sten fell in love with a girl he met in a hospital and was quick in deciding to marry her. His love for Margaret Key, Anna's mother changed him. He stopped and ran away from his project and lived in a remote village, wanting to live peacefully, but his companions didn't allow it." There was a pause from Sumeragi.

"They found him, killed most of the villagers and him and his wife, leaving only several survivors, and finally took Anna."

"Does Anna know about this?" Allelujah asked, feeling slightly calmer after knowing the whole truth.

Sumeragi shook her head. "No, and I don't think she should know, not now anyway."

"Stop delaying," Tieria snapped icily. "It doesn't really matter, now or later, she'll still be broken-hearted. It's better if she faces it now, than later."

He had sensed the fondness the crews had on the girl. Most of them had taken a liking to the citrine-head girl, even though some still in the process of accepting, but if she fell into a desperate state, he knew most of them would be affected. Since they were all will remain in Ptolemaios, one dark mood could be contagious to the others, and thus affecting the process of the mission.

"We don't need any hassle in our plan." He walked to stand directly behind Sumeragi. "I don't need her ruining or delaying our plan. Just tell her and get rid of this problem fast."

Lockon's breath hitched in his throat. "Tieria, can't you just let her be happy for a while? She's gone through a lot of pain!"

The purple-haired man sighed and closed his eyes. "I don't really care. As long as Veda's plan can be carried out smoothly, I don't care about what she feels."

"You!" The brown-haired Meister almost shouted, taking a step forward.

Sumeragi decided to cut the conversation on that point. "Stop it, the two of you."

Both of the Meisters backed down and dropped the matter. Lockon was still a bit irked, but believed fighting Tieria would not resulting in something good. So he calmed himself by taking several deep breaths, while the latter only closed his eyes coolly, uncaring about what had just happened.

"I won't tell her, in the mean time," Sumeragi stated firmly. "Don't worry. We'll not delay our plan because of this."

The dark-red-eyed man sighed in disapproval, but nodded, noticing the finality in her tone.

"We will all keep this is a secret, until the right time comes to tell Anna." The strategist finally turned around and faced her crews, who nodded in response.

[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]

Walking down to the beach, Setsuna could not help but again feel troubled. It was the second time he felt disturbed, and the source of the emotion was the very same new member of Ptolemaios. After hearing about her past and parents, he felt strangely worried about the naïve girl. She knew nothing, he thought, she was oblivious, about herself, about her family, about this world. It was not strange though, considering she had been kept for five years in the facility. The place used to be her world.

Once he reached the beach, he was a bit surprised to see Anna kneeling down on the shore, dangerously near to the water, watching something intently. Approaching her without a noise, causing her to be unaware of his presence, he peeked over her shoulder, finding her staring at a small crab. Her blue eyes filled with marvel as she reached out to touch it.

He grabbed her hand before she touched it. "Don't."

Anna was surprised when someone held her hand firmly before she could touch the orange-red small moving thing. Her body went rigid in shock. Tentatively, her eyes trailed the hand to the forearm, shoulder, and finally to the face of the owner of the arm. When she noticed it was Setsuna, she calmed down immediately.

"Why can I touch it?" She asked to him with wonder.

Setsuna let go of her hand and stood straight, arms hung on each sides. "It can hurt you."

Tilting her head to one side, she asked innocently with her finger pointed to the 'it', "What's this? Why this can hurt me?"

She noticed his eyes widened slightly in surprise, before calmly replied. "It's a crab, a sea creature. Its pinchers can hurt you."

Setsuna noticed her eyes twinkling in amusement and fear simultaneously. "You never saw a crab before?"

"No, I know about the sea from a picture from my mother's photo album, but I've never been to the sea, while my house was up in a hill." She was silent for a moment. "Dad promised me that we're going to beach, but it never happened."

The black-haired boy noticed her shoulders slumped. Her gaze wavered to the vast ocean in front of her, looking so forlorn and disappointed. Unable to help it, he felt slightly guilty for bringing the topic of her parents. This girl loved her parents a lot, but then she did not know the truth about her father. Inexorably, a memory from his past washed over him, when he killed his parents. His mother's terrified face and his father's corpse, wonder what Anna would think when she knew. And why did he care about what she thought?

A sudden strong blow from the sea wind caused both of them to cover their face with their arms. Anna immediately wrapped her arms around her torso, shivering from the cold. It was only then she realised how cold it was outside, her lips began to tremble. Setsuna sighed, putting back his muffler into its right place after being blown by the wind. After a moment or so, his ears caught a sound of someone sneezing. His eyes shifted to Anna who was rubbing her nose. He decided it was time to return to the building, before one of them got sick.

So he swiftly grabbed her hand, pulling her along with him.

Anna, in her confusion, let herself being pulled by the Meister. His hand was warm and she held onto it firmly. When she recalled they were in the same position several hours ago, albeit in a very different circumstance, she giggled. The other adolescent shot her a look with a frown, but she only shook her head, smiling. The brown-eyed turned away from her, deciding to drop the matter. Together, they entered the building and were greeted by a rush of warm air. Thankfully for them, it was nice to regain their normal body temperature. The blonde sighed in contentment and closed her eyes.

"There you are!" A male voice resounded in the hall.

They both looked at the direction of the voice, and were greeted by Lockon, Sumeragi, and Chris. Lockon was holding Haro on one hand, the robot flew to Anna and circled her once, causing the girl to laugh softly, Sumeragi had her hand on her hip, and Chris simply grinned. Setsuna sighed and let go of Anna's hand – the three had mischievous smile plastered on their faces when they noticed the two teenagers holding hands.

Lockon was the first to advance slowly towards the pair. An amused smile crept into his face when he saw Anna looking up at him with a twinkling glow in her eyes, both hands holding Haro in front of her, covering her mouth and nose. He shifted his gaze to Setsuna, who responded with a sigh, but the adult did not miss the soft look the adolescent had for a second. Chuckling, he took Haro from Anna's hands, intensified the laugh when Anna stretched out her arms as if asking to have Haro back.

"It's time for a kid to go to bed! So, be a good girl and go to sleep!" Lockon stated, patting her head with his free hand.

Chris took it as a cue for her to take action. "Anna, let's go! I'll show you your room!"

The petite girl nodded and happily joined Chris who had started to walk away. Soon enough, they disappeared in the darkness of the building. That left the three remaining people. The two adults were smirking, and the youngest felt a sense of foreboding. What was about to come from those two lips could not be wonderful news to him.

"So, Setsuna, I see you've become a good friend to Anna," Lockon said teasingly.

Setsuna glared at the man. "We're not."

Sumeragi chirped in. "Really? Well, you better be soon then, because we're putting her under your charge."

His eyes widened slightly and he choked, "W-what?"

"Come on, Setsuna. You're technically her savior, and you have a resident in the Earth. We want her to see and enjoy the Earth after such a long time." Lockon smiled at the shocked look on the boy's face.

"And don't reject this order," Sumeragi said once she noted Setsuna opened his mouth to retort. "It's a command."

Resigned, Setsuna nodded his head and excused himself to go to his room. He did not know the smirk and chuckle that erupted from the adults once he was out of sight. Back in his room, the black-haired Meister laid in supine position on his bed, placing an arm over his eyes. Why did they have to put him on charge of her? He was not fond of anyone, they knew it, so why she was put up with him? He sighed in irritation and rolled onto his side. Exhaustion conquered his body and he slowly drifted into a dreamless sleep.

His last thought was about his new order. It was not wonderful news for him, but he had to admit it was not a horrible one.

[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]

_A/N: It's the longest chapter I've ever typed until now ^^ so, how is it so far? Shall I continue, people?_

_Please review if you like the story and want me to continue._


	4. Celestial Being

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the character in Gundam 00, but I do own my OC(s) and this fanfic's plot.

_Sorry for the super-duper late update. I was really, really busy with school and studying *sigh* and my final exams will soon come to its end. I'll have my two-month free time! This is a long chapter. Oh, and I will keep the title for all further chapters the same with the original one._

_Please forgive me for grammar mistakes or any error._

_Anyway, enjoy reading!_

**The Missing Piece of Me**

Mission 3

==|| Celestial Being ||==

Opening up her eyes, Anna slowly woke up from her deep slumber. The bright sunlight coming from the window caused her to squint, shading her eyes using her arm. Once her eyes got adjusted to the light, she stretched and yawned, getting off her bed lazily, heading towards the attached bathroom. A towel was placed in the bathroom, she was thankful for that. Taking off her pink shirt and shorts, Anna quickly took a bath.

Afterwards, she donned her casuals. Zipping up the outer coat, she sat down on her bed, towel around her head. Facing small mirror on the desk, she brushed her hair slowly and parted it on the left side. Afterwards, she pinned back her hairpins and put on her shoes. A short examination on her appearance, she smiled and left her room.

Chris had told her the previous night that there would be something important the following day. The older female had also reminded her to go straight to the meeting room in the morning, after she was ready, of course. Anna was puzzled, and a bit worried, yet she obediently followed the order without further question. Shrugging off the nagging doubt, she walked down the way.

As she entered the room, she noticed all of the crews were there. Her shyness suddenly kicked in when many pairs of eyes landed their gazes on her. She looked down to the floor and felt herself blushing. Slowly, she walked – or stumbled, on her own feet – towards an empty spot next to Chris. The citrine head felt their gaze was still on her as she sat down besides Chris. Her head was hung down and her hands on her lap, pink tinted her cheeks.

She was really grateful when another person entered the room.

It was Sumeragi who came, a big smile plastered on her face. The brown-haired woman calmly stepped into the vicinity, looking at her crews one by one. All eyes were focused on her as she put a hand on her hip and cleared her throat to gain their attention.

"Good morning, everyone, I believe everyone's ready for the first mission." She smiled confidently and somehow, discreetly.

Everyone nodded in understanding, and missed completely the puzzled look in Anna' face.

"Lockon and Setsuna will stay here, waiting for the commencing time." The strategist glanced at the two said Meisters. "Meanwhile, the others will return to the space with Ptolemaios, preparing for our own mission as well."

"Ian, please get ready with the additional equipments." She smiled at the man, who crossed his arms and nodded in response.

Still with a smile, Sumeragi turned her head to Anna, whose head was still bowed down, and called the new girl. "Anna?"

"Yes?" Anna raised her head and tentatively responded when Sumeragi stood in front of her and called her name.

She saw the older woman grinned happily. "Before I tell you what to do, there are some people I want you to meet."

Sumeragi stepped aside from blocking Anna's vision to reveal two people standing near the door. One was a young beautiful lady with long flowing black hair tied in plaited twin pigtails, a bun on top of each. She wore a maroon dress, sort of ethnic style, and white opera length gloves. Behind her stood a tall man with dark blue long-sleeved top, also kind of cultural, and pants. He had a long raven hair kept in low ponytail.

"Please meet Wang Liu Mei, and her bodyguard, Hong Long," Sumeragi introduced the newcomers to Anna, gesturing to them using her hand.

The blonde nodded her head in acknowledgement and timidly introduced herself, "Annalina Sandberg, or Anna, nice to meet you."

The young lady named Wang Liu Mei smiled and extended her hand. "I'm Wang Liu Mei, greeting to you, Anna."

Anna took her hand and shook it lightly, smiling timidly. "Hello, Miss Wang Liu Mei."

"Don't call me with such formality." Taking back her hand gracefully, the black-haired girl giggled lightly. "Just Liu Mei will do."

Liu Mei glanced sideways to the strategist, who nodded while crossing her arms. Smiling, Liu Mei averted her gaze to Anna. Slowly, she bent down so that she was in eye level with the shorter girl. She stared at the blonde, long and kind of intimidating, at least for the blonde teenager.

Anna looked at Chris, then at Sumeragi, wondering why Liu Mei was eyeing her. The long-brown-haired woman grinned and waved her hand dismissively, as if saying to Anna to let the beautiful lady examine her closely, missing the helpless look in the youngest girl eyes. Still under the heated gaze of the black-haired lady, Anna bit the bottom of her lips nervously, her cheeks adorned with blushes as she leaned back a bit as to make some space between her and the attractive lady in front of her eyes.

Finally, after a long uptight moment – for Anna, it was – Liu Mei stood back straight, smiling. "You are pretty cute."

Anna blinked her eyes twice in confusion, before responding lamely, "Huh?"

"She'll do just fine. A little make-up, then she's ready," Liu Mei said confidently to Sumeragi.

The latter smiled in satisfaction. "Great, are you going to take her now?"

Before Liu Mei could reply to the previous question, Anna spoke up in the midst of her confusion, "What's this about?"

They both smiled, and Sumeragi replied to her question. "You see, I want you to accompany Liu Mei to a party in the orbital space elevator. It's your task in this first mission."

"Okay," she said slowly in puzzlement, trying to let the information downed on her.

The explanation continued. Sumeragi told Anna about Liu Mei's identity as a famous actress. She was a secret agent of Celestial Being, having a broad connection, gaining access to world-wide information. Giving Anna a communication device, the strategist told the sapphire-eyed girl to keep it as her communication device with the rest of the members. Her further instruction would be sent through the device. She also told the newest member of Celestial Being would go with Liu Mei to a party in the orbital elevator in her disguise. Her appearance was important since Anna was disguised as a teenage artist with close relation to Liu Mei.

Once it was all classified, Liu Mei spoke up again, "Well, let's get going now. We have a lot to prepare."

Nodding, Anna trailed after Liu Mei, walking next to Hong Long, who was following his mistress, silently.

"Be a good girl and follow Liu Mei's order, Anna!" Chris cupped her hands around her mouth, shouting to Anna.

Anna looked over her shoulder and nodded with a grin. She did not object. If it was her task, she would do it. It was not that she disliked wearing a dress. In fact, she was rather excited. Having never been to a party before, since she lived in a village back then, she was kind of curious about a party which was located in the orbital, meaning the view was the outer space. It was the first time she would see the space. A smile crept into her lips as she imagined the magnificent view, like what she always heard of.

"Sumeragi-san, are you sure about this?" Allelujah asked worriedly after Anna, Liu Mei, and Hong Long got out of the room.

The brown-haired woman frowned, looking at him. "What do you mean?"

Allelujah sighed softly. "Sending Anna, I mean, it's too risky, isn't it? What if any of the scientists are there? And they try to get her back?"

Noticing the apprehensiveness emitting from him, Sumeragi assured him that it would be safe for Anna. The blonde would be guarded along with Liu Mei and knowing Anna's shy personality, it was less likely she would interact with lots of people and prefer to stay away from the crowd. The tactical forecaster added that Anna actually would only observe this first mission, watching the progress quietly as to see how Celestial Being worked.

Allelujah felt relief at the reassurance, although not perfectly convinced. But he trusted the strategist. After all, she was an experienced one. Sumeragi surely had planned everything nicely that nothing would go wrong. Smiling slightly, he nodded as a sign of his relief and trust towards the decision of the dark-brown-haired woman.

Satisfied, seeing the tense and anxious atmosphere faded away gradually, Sumeragi smiled happily. She clapped her hands to get their attention, and told them to move right there and then. Smiling, she spun around and walked, humming lightly. The strategist was certain that the crews would soon follow her, and so she made her own way towards Ptolemaios without looking back.

Tieria was the first to make the move to get our after Sumeragi. Within several seconds after Sumeragi gave the instruction, he calmly and silently walked out of the meeting room. He was not bothered by the conversation before. The new girl was not his concern. If she was a part of Veda's plan, then so be it, but other than that he did not care.

Lockon watched disinterestedly as his comrades, one by one, leaving the room. The first was Sumeragi, then the purple-haired bespectacled Meister, followed by Chris who brought Feldt along, interlocking their arms, Lichty, Ian together with Lasse, and finally Allelujah. He leaned against the wall opposite the window casually, hands behind the back of his head with his eyes closed. His ears caught a buzzing noise, and then a sound of engine, and when he opened his eyes and looked up, he saw Ptolemaios had taken off to the sky and disappeared in the clouds.

Stretching his arms, he questioned the youngest Meister, "So, Setsuna, what do you want to do while waiting?"

Setsuna merely glanced at him, before looking away, not replying. Lockon frowned, confused at his comrade's reaction. His hands moved from the back of his head to the sides of his body, one on his pants' pocket. After considering what to do, Lockon finally decided to approach the quiet boy and talked to him.

Walking towards the sitting boy, Lockon stood next to him, hands in pocket. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Setsuna said curtly, his eyes were casted towards the door.

Lockon frowned again, but then he smirked mischievously as a thought entered his head. "Are you worried about Anna?"

No answer

Lockon took it as a 'yes' from the black-haired Meister.

"Well, if that's the case, there's no need to worry. She's perfectly fine in Wang Liu Mei's hand," He said with a smile, giving pats on Setsuna's back.

Setsuna gave him an icy glare.

In return, Lockon raised his hands in defense while grinning, backing away. Still with a grin, he walked away, heading towards the door. He put his hands behind his head and mumbled something sounded like 'teenage love', not really bothering whether Setsuna heard him or not. There was still some time left before the scheduled time for the mission, and he wanted to have a walk on the beach for a while. Heading outside, down to the beach, he looked up to the sky and waited with anticipation for the beginning of his mission.

Once Lockon was gone, Setsuna sighed and stood up, walking out of the room. Once he reached his room, he lied down on his bed and pondered about what Allelujah, Sumeragi, and Lockon had said. Allelujah's saying about Anna might be in a grave danger was true, but again, Sumeragi had assured her safety. Yet, as Lockon said, he was still worried since it was still too risky, exposing the blonde existence without any disguise. Her innocent, trustful nature only made it even more dangerous.

Closing his eyes, he thought of his mission, hoping the vision of Anna would disappear from his mind.

[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]

Wang Liu Mei sat down on her chair comfortably while Hong Long poured a cup of tea for her. As the cup was completely filled, the black-haired man placed the teapot on the table silently. The girl then took the cup, blowing it softly, and sipped the warm tea. They were both waiting for a certain blonde girl to change her clothes. Soon, the party would start, and so the appearance of Celestial Being and their declaration to the world.

"Umm, Liu Mei-san?" Anna's small timid voice suddenly sounded from behind her. "Is this okay?"

Liu Mei shifted in her seat, sitting sideways. Smiling, she nodded her head in approval. "It fits you nicely, Anna."

Anna nervously adjusted her dress, although actually there was nothing to adjust. She was clad in a black spaghetti-strapped dress. It had a frilly part covering her chest. Her hair was tied with pink ribbons in twin low pigtails. On her feet was a pair of black mules, decorated with bluish-white small fake rose-shaped flower. Her hands clutched a small black handbag.

"Good, now, shall we get going?" Liu Mei asked, more like stating than questioning.

The young mistress sipped her tea and placed the empty cup on the table quietly and gracefully. Standing up, she wordlessly walked towards the door. A group of maids suddenly appeared and opened the door for her. Hong Long, being the loyal bodyguard, followed the black-haired actress and walked behind her.

Anna needed about five seconds to realise that she had to follow them. Once her mind registered what to do, she hurried to catch up with them.

"Where are we going?" Anna asked, stopped jogging as she had approached the two, walking besides Liu Mei.

Liu Mei giggled. "Of course to the celebration party, it's about the time anyway, the time for their celebration and…our 'celebration'."

[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]

In AEU's proving ground, a mass was gathered to watch a presentation. Different people from various groups were gathered and they sat down in the podium, waiting for the presentation to begin. In front of them laid a huge open ground, filled with automatic shooting machines and blockades. The crowd waited in silence as they waited for the appearance of the new model.

As if on cue, a greenish-blue slim model emerged and the shooting machines began to shoot at it, as they were programmed to do so. The suit evaded the rain of bullets smoothly, moving to the right and to the left, sometimes turning around. It took out its gun swiftly and shot back at the machine. The bullets managed to destroy several of the automated machines.

It landed on the ground, only to be greeted by another set of raining bullets. Using a defending machine on its left arm, the suit blocked the coming bullets and took the chance to attack more targets. The greenish-blue mobile suit flew towards the machine, destroying them and its targets, and to the sky. Once it was in the sky, it did a back-flip and demolished some more of the shooting machines.

"Amazing!" the crowd exclaimed in awe as they saw the presentation of the new type of AEU mobile suit.

Among the people was a long-brown-ponytail-haired man. His eyes were fixed to the currently-stationary mobile suit. The man with eyeglasses wore a white suit with purple tie. His face showed knowledge he possessed. Unlike other watchers who only watched in awe, and was rendered speechless, he knew quite a lot about mobile suits. He smiled at the actions that have just shown by the new model, commenting the new robot to himself.

"Mobile Suit Enact, The AEU's first solar-energy-compatible model," Billy Katagiri said to no one in particular.

Unknown to him, another person actually listened to his words, approaching the seating bespectacled man. Descending down the stairs was a blond-haired man with dark-green eyes, dressed in black suit, blue shirt, and gray tie. He stood next to the bespectacled man.

"The AEU's development of the orbital elevator is falling behind schedule," he stated calmly, both hands inside his trousers' pockets. "Well, at the very least they want to do something about the mobile suit."

Billy looked up at the citrine-head man and smiled slightly. "Hey, is this okay? For the ace of MSWAD to be in a place like this…"

The man, named Graham Aker, cut him off. "Or course it's not okay."

As the blonde walked to the empty seat next to the brown-haired one, the bespectacled man stared at him in confusion. The blond man slowly walked passing Billy, and toward the empty space, while other spectators were too focused on the suit to notice him. Graham just ignorantly sat down in the seat and leaned back casually, fixing his gaze on the newest mobile suit. His friend could only smile and turned his attention back to the suit.

"But the AEU's very resolute," Billy commented, staring as the suit did some manoeuvres, "wanting to present a new model for the Human Reform League Tenth Anniversary."

The suit landed on the ground, and Graham asked, "How's that suit looking?"

The brown head closed his eyes and sighed, smiling wryly. He re-opened his eyes. "No matter how you look at it, it's just a shameless copy of our flag."

He paused for a short while as Graham looked at him sideways. "The only thing original about it is its design."

"Hey! I can hear you!" A loud irritated voice shouted.

Both of them were surprised by the interruption. They shifted their gazes to the suit pilot, who was emerging from its cockpit. The door was opened, and a figure came out of it, shouting angrily.

"What did you just say?" The same voice said loudly in enraged tone. "Huh? Come on!"

Graham smirked and sighed softly. "Its hearing sensors are very sharp."

Chuckling, his friend agreed with him. "It seems so."

None of them were aware of something coming towards their way. Up above the high blue sky, a suit was advancing towards the ground at a high speed. The blue-and-white suit emitted glowing lights from its back, moving swiftly.

"240082. Exia, target destination confirmed." The pilot of Exia said. "I will stop the GN particles when I reach the destination."

He pressed a button and a picture showing the greenish-blue model appeared on his screen. "Primary target located, the first phase will proceed as planned."

One of the crews of the testing ground finally noticed about its coming, immediately reporting the luminous object. "Captain, an aircraft is approaching!"

"What?" The captain exclaimed in surprise, and the other crews also gasped in shock.

The reporting man turned back to his table. "It's approaching from 3 o'clock!"

They all straight away turned to their respective table and began to type furiously. The leader stood up and shouted a question. "Whose unit is it from?"

"We're in the middle of a presentation. Look into it!" He commanded.

"There's no response in the radar!" Another crew reported in a rather panic tone.

A different crew also added in. "It's jamming!"

Frustrated and confused, the captain ordered his subordinates. "Bring out the camera!"

Obeying the command, one of them controlled the camera and used it to take a picture of the approaching aircraft. As soon as the picture appeared on the big screen, they all gasped.

"What's that suit?" the captain asked, although he knew no one could give an answer to that.

In Ptolemaios, Tieria was communicating with Veda. His eyes closed in concentration. He floated inside the terminal unit, appearing peaceful and calm. His purple hair floated lightly around him.

Opening his eyes, he whispered, "It's starting."

"Huh? An unknown?" The pilot of the newly-made AEU's mobile suit asked the main control through the communication device on his helmet. "Why at a time like this…"

He spun his body a bit, before his communication was cut and only buzzing sounds could be heard. Flinching a bit at the noise, he looked up to the sky, surprised to find a mobile suit coming from the sky.

"Amazing, they had another new model…" Billy said in wonder and awe.

Graham corrected him, frowning. "That's not it."

The blonde noticed the approaching suit emitting light particles from its back. "That light…"

None of them could respond as Exia landed gracefully and smoothly on the proving ground, in front of the newest model. There was a pregnant silence in the air. Exia turned calmly to face the greenish-blue suit. The spectators were rendered speechless at the appearance of a brand new model with a completely different look. Amidst them was one of the supervisors, quickly snapped out of his trance, and took his phone to contact the new mobile suit, Enact.

"Enact, come in, Enact?" He said loudly, gaining attention from other spectators around him. "Patrick!"

Slamming his phone shut, he cursed, enraged. "Damn it! It won't connect!"

Everyone around started to murmur and whisper in panic.

"_What's going on?"_

"_What? What's happening?"_

"_The connection?"_

"It failed to connect," Graham stated in wonder and confusion.

Out of the blue, a soldier came and calmed the audience. "Everyone, please follow our instructions and take shelter!"

Hearing to the announcement, Billy exclaimed in surprise, while some other spectators had begun to make their way out. "It's not one of theirs. Whose unit is it from?"

The pilot named Patrick Corlasawar re-entered his cockpit and questioned the newcomer, irritated as he was disturbed during his performance. "Hey, hey, who are you working for?"

He activated back his main control. "The Union? The Human Reform League?"

Shifting his right hand to a trigger, he smiled smugly. "Well, either way, you've stepped into someone else's territory. I'm not letting you get away that easily!"

The supervisor, who had watched the presentation, was currently walking out of the podium, looking at the pilot with his mobile suit getting ready to confront the unknown mobile suit. He frowned and angrily said, "That idiot, what does he think he's doing?"

"Does he know how much it cost to develop that suit-" he was cut off by another man.

A man in a dark-gray suit, another supervisor, smirked. "This is a good opportunity. With this, the Enact's value will go up."

Both of them turned to see the two mobile suits, one with worried expression while other still had his smugness, who continued speaking. "Patrick Corlasawar is our ace, isn't he? There shouldn't be a problem."

Inside Enact, the red-head pilot was scanning his new enemy and aiming to shoot it down. "Hey, you, do you know who I am?"

"I'm Patrick Corlasawar of the AEU, the special one who has never ever lost a mock battle!" He proclaimed proudly.

He pressed a button that ejected out a special battle knife from his suit. Taking it out, he held it in front of his suit. "I won't let you tell me otherwise!"

The knife vibrated and rang, emitting an ultrasound that was painful for the people around. The remaining spectators were covering their ears due to the uncomfortable noise. One of the supervisors cursed him for doing it, but the other was still looking confident.

Enact charged at Exia, walking slowly and noisily, pointing the knife at the blue-and-white suit.

"Huh? Hey!" Patrick taunted again.

On the other hand, Setsuna was unaffected, only coldly stated, "Exia, time to eliminate the target."

As the knife was thrust towards Exia, the Gundam's eyes lit up. In a matter of seconds, it ejected his large sword from its storing place and prepared it to assault the enemy. Using the sharp edge of the sword, Exia swung it swiftly, successfully slashing its enemy's lower arm. The piece flew to the air.

"What the?" Graham yelled, astounded and stunned, while next to him Billy's eyes widened in shock.

After several seconds, the slashed piece fell to the ground with a clatter. The knife immediately stopped vibrating and went still on the ground.

Setsuna remained calm and collected, but his opponent was deeply terrified, partially enraged.

"You bastard," he said, his voice slightly shaking. "You don't get it!"

Enact, losing his knife, took his gun and shot at Exia. With ease, Exia dodged the bullets with a slight movement. It then turned and took out his beam saber from its holster, ready to give another attack to the greenish-blue suit.

"I'm…" The red-haired pilot said as Exia cut another parts of Enact swiftly and smoothly. "I'm special, I'm famous!"

"I'm the king of the mock battle!" Patrick shouted one last time as his mobile suit fell to the ground, unable to move.

Enact remained stationary on the ground. Dusts particles flew all around it. All of them were rendered speechless, stunned at how their newest model could be destroyed so easily in a matter of seconds. Graham and Billy were also shocked. However, Graham was quick to get his mind back and took action. He noticed a man in front of him was holding a pair of binoculars and excused himself before taking it, even if the man was irked. He used the binoculars to take a closer look at the unit. His eyes caught a word-written engraved its head.

"Gundam?" He said out loud, taking off the binoculars, "Is it the name of that mobile suit?"

Billy, who had listened to him, questioned himself in wonder. "Gundam?"

"Exia, first phase complete," Setsuna stated calmly, reporting the progress of his mission. "Proceed to second phase." He turned on Exia's solar furnace, emitting the GN particles, and slowly, Exia turned around and flew back to the sky.

"That light again," Graham murmured, noticing the light emitted by the unknown mobile suit.

Besides him, Billy also noted the strange particles and pondered, "How does it do that without a propulsive power?"

Just then, Patrick came out of his unit and screamed angrily, cursing and announcing his name. The red-haired pilot started to look around trying to find the unit who had just destroyed Enact.

The blonde saw him and smirked, "I see. Even though the latest model's done for, at least the pilot safety is assured."

He looked up again, to where the blue-and-white unit had just disappeared, "But that mobile suit…a checkup on AEU, who's going down the road of arms proliferation. Should this be taken as a warning?"

Thinking, he said, more to himself than to anyone else, "If that's so, the AEU definitely won't stay quiet after something like this."

The AEU indeed did not remain silent. They sent a troop of mobile suits to catch after the Gundam. The mobile suits, in form of plane, took off and followed to where Exia had disappeared, ready to assault the unit that had destroyed their newest model.

[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]

Back in Ptolemaios, Celestial Being's transport and mother ship, the other crews were busy taking in the reports and preparing their next phase.

"Ptolemaios' peripheral node continuing to mission mode," Chris read the current status, her hand busy typing, "Exia has completed the first phase within the calculated time."

She looked down from the big screen in front of her to the smaller one, "Once we enter the second phase, we'll re-estimate."

"Is Setsuna doing things properly?" Lasse asked.

Lichty replied to his question, looking at the questionnaire with a small smile. "If he isn't, that will show Celestial Being's limit."

"Don't waste time chatting!" Chris scolded the two men, causing the duo to stop. "It's almost time for the third phase."

The door opened suddenly, revealing the tactical forecaster. Sumeragi entered, a bottle on her hand, and smiled at her crews. "You don't have to be so stiff."

She further added while going towards her seat, stopping just behind it, "It's our first performance as Celestial Being, after all. Let's go all out."

Chris looked at her and exclaimed in surprise. "What? You're drinking!"

Lichty turned his head and realised that his leader was holding a bottle. "Seriously?"

Sumeragi only dismissively waved her bottle and closed her eyes. "It's fine! I'm the strategist. I'll leave the rest to you." And with that she drank the liquor, although after drinking it, her face turned serious.

"Container loading complete," Feldt said tonelessly as the container moved around Ptolemaios, preparing for launches of the mobile suits.

The catapult gate opened up, and the pink-haired announced, "Kyrios, transporting to the catapult deck," and Gundam Kyrios lowered down, preparing itself for launching in its plane form.

"It's a real battle. Hallelujah," Allelujah said to himself as he descended down. "Tired of waiting?"

Closing his eyes, he sighed and put on his helmet. "I'm depressed."

"Kyrios, arrived at the catapult deck," Feldt said while preparing the launching of the vermillion Gundam, "Linear catapult voltage, increasing from 130 to 520. Kyrios, at the linear field."

"Launching preparations complete." She talked to Allelujah through the communication device, "Transferring timing to Kyrios."

Allelujah responded, "I have control. Kyrios, commencing operation."

With that, he pressed a button and pulled a lever, launching Kyrios out to the space, ready for his mission.

[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]

In the second orbital space elevator, nicknamed Pillar of Heaven, a party to celebrate its tenth anniversary was being held. It had been ten years since its completion and the party was in full swing. Representatives from each of the HRL's member nations involved in the construction of the orbital elevator were all attending the party. Besides them, the military and other industries also had their own representatives. Amidst them, Liu Mei and Anna were also present.

Anna was amazed. It was her first time experiencing no gravity on her body. Her body felt lighter and she could actually float. She saw many people around, floating or standing upside down from her view. Some even standing perpendicular to the floor on which she was standing. Although she was amused, the crowd caused her to feel anxious. The fact that she did not know what to do did not help.

"Liu Mei-san, may I ask?" Anna hesitantly began, her fingers kneading her handbag.

"Yes, of course, what do you want to ask?" Liu Mei smiled at the shorter girl.

Floating next to the black-haired one, she asked, "Actually, what are we doing here?"

Before Liu Mei could reply, a waiter came and offered a drink to her. "Would you care for a drink?"

Liu Mei gracefully spun around, causing the waiter to blush, mesmerized by her beauty. Smiling sweetly, she answered with arms folded on her back, "I'll have one."

She stepped forward and took one of the bottles on the tray. Giggling, she said to the stunned waiter, "If you keep making that face, you'll lose some manliness."

As the waiter looked away in embarrassment, she smiled and walked away. Sipping her drink, she floated passing Anna. Anna immediately walked following her from behind when Hong Long suddenly came to Liu Mei and whispered to his mistress. Not wanting to disturb them, Anna kept her distance a bit away from the actress, but not too far that she would lose sight of them. She still waited for Liu Mei's answer to her question.

"It has begun, my lady," he stated seriously.

Liu Mei stopped sipping her drink. Her expression abruptly changed, from carefree to serious. "They've finally begun to move…Celestial Being's Gundam Meisters."

Back in Earth, the army sent by AEU had finally caught up with Exia. The units started to attack Exia, shooting it from afar. As a counter-attack, Exia used his gun to shoot them back, but none of the bullets hit the planes. When one of them got closer to Exia, Setsuna used the sword to cut a small part of it. However, the attacking unit was not affected. Another unit, on the other hand, was aiming at Exia. The AEU's units remained in their formation, waiting for reinforcements.

And the reinforcements came soon enough, from the pillar.

"Lockon, reinforcements approaching, reinforcements approaching," Haro flapped its ears, informing the Gundam Meister of Dynames.

Lockon smiled with his hands behind his head, "This might be tough, even for Setsuna."

"Then maybe I should aim at a few of them," he said, reaching out for the controller and turning it on. "Let's go! It will be the first battle of Lockon Stratos and Gundam Dynames!"

Lockon shot the enemies from the ground, surprising them. Accurately snipping his targets, he smiled as the enemies' planes fell one by one. Most of the planes had been destroyed, and the last one was attacked by Exia. The last assault and the complete destruction of the enemies' suits meant the completion of the second phase.

"Liu Mei-san, you haven't answered my question," Anna pouted slightly, after being ignored for a long time, still walking behind Liu Mei.

The latter turned her head slightly. "Which question?"

Anna pouted even more and repeated her question, "I asked what we are doing here."

"Oh, that," Liu Mei mused. "I'm the informer, so I'm not supposed to do anything now."

She faced Anna fully. "And you're going to see how Celestial Being works. After all, this is only your second day after joining Celestial Being. So, be a good girl and watch carefully. You'll be a part of a mission in the future. You need to understand how the organisation works"

Anna nodded, slightly unsure at first but eventually convinced. "Okay, I'll pay a good attention."

Satisfied with Anna's reply, Liu Mei shifted her attention to several men who were leaving the party vicinity. "My, my, they're the only ones leaving in groups. They just do as they please."

"Should we find a shelter?" Hong Long asked, his eyes looking in the same direction as his mistress.

Smiling and closing her eyes, she answered, "No need…but as expected of Sumeragi-san, an admirable prediction."

"What prediction?" Anna suddenly questioned, confused, looking up at Liu Mei.

Instead of replying, Liu Mei told Anna to move towards the large windows. Although she was puzzled, the younger girl trusted the older one and followed the advice. Midway, Anna looked back at Liu Mei with a slight doubt. With a bright smile, the black-haired female gestured to Anna to continue, and so she did float towards the windows.

Just as she nearing the window, the place suddenly shook. Anna was slightly scared by the tremor, and she tightened her grips on her bag. Her eyes, however, somehow were locked to the view of outer space shown in the large window. She stared in a complete astonishment as a beam of light destroyed the charging mobile suits one by one. A vermillion plane was attacking swiftly and accurately. Her mind slowly registered, from the colour and the shape, that it was one of the Gundams she saw the day before.

"Gundam," she murmured absent-mindedly, not knowing Liu Mei was doing the same thing as her.

[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]

Allelujah had just destroyed all of the enemies' units when he noticed there was a special attack unit.

Gritting his teeth, he mumbled angrily, "Damn it, these terrorists...Tieria!"

The unknown special unit charged in and advanced towards the orbital elevator, ready to attack. Panic, the military was unable to find a way to stop the unit. They would not be able to stop the attack. The terrorist would destroy the elevator. There was nothing they could do.

And then their system was suddenly jammed.

Virtue had placed itself near the control area, around the orbital elevator. The Gundam had not only jammed the main control, but also the guests' communication devices. All thanks to the GN particles emitting from the solar panels placed on it.

"Virtue, eliminating the target," Tieria said, charging his Gundam's bazooka.

As soon as the charge was complete, a huge beam of light was shot from the weapon. Unable to avoid it, the unit was hit by the light. The beam attack completely annihilated the enemy, leaving no trace of it, only dusts could be seen from distant.

"Third phase complete," he said emotionlessly.

"Sumeragi-san, third phase has been completed," Chris announced.

Sumeragi nodded, gulping her drink slowly. "Good, then we'll just have to wait for the time to do the last phase."

Back on the Earth, Setsuna and Lockon were heading back towards the empty island after their mission. From the time, they knew that the third phase had been completed. And since there was no news from Ptolemaios, they believed everything went well. Soon enough, the announcement would be declared. It was the last phase.

Lockon smiled, silently feeling thankful that the mission went smoothly. A soft relief sigh escaped his lips. Staring at Exia, which was flying in front of Dynames, a thought suddenly popped into his mind. He contacted Setsuna through the communication device. He could see Setsuna's serious face on the screen, and he struggled to keep his smirk at bay.

"Hey, Setsuna, why don't you call Anna?" Lockon asked casually, although a mischievous glint was visible in his eyes.

"No," Setsuna replied roughly, shooting a glare.

Lockon shrugged, "Hey, I'm just suggesting. Don't glare at me like that. After all, you're her 'ward', right? If something happens, you're to blame."

He immediately cut off the line without waiting for Setsuna's reply. The smirk finally surfaced as Lockon leaned back on his seat. He knew Setsuna would eventually call Anna. It was just his nature to do his task dutifully. He did not mean it, though, when he said that Setsuna was to blame if something occurred. His smirk grew wider as he stared at Exia in front of him. It was all about time.

[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]

The guests were still wondering and murmuring about what was going on while they were being ushered to immediately evacuate. Anna was unfocused, being too astonished by the scene she witnessed just then. Her mind was a jumble of messy thoughts that she did not quite realise she was walking next to Liu Mei towards the prepared vehicle. That was when Anna felt something beeping in her small handbag, breaking her train of thoughts.

She jumped in surprise and started to fumble with her handbag. Taking out her communication device, she flipped it opened and was flabbergasted to see Setsuna, still in his pilot suit.

The sapphire-eyed gasped softly, earning a questioning glance from Liu Mei.

"Uh…" Anna pointed to the device, an unsure look on her face. "I have a call."

Liu Mei nodded, walking in front of Anna and entering her car. "I won't disturb you, feel free to talk. When you're finished, just enter."

Anna nodded and replied meekly, "Thank you."

As Hong Long closed the door for Liu Mei, Anna turned her attention back to the caller. "Setsuna, is something wrong?"

The boy answered shortly, his face as serious as ever. "No."

Blinking, Anna tilted her head slightly to one side, her eyes fixed on the screen. "Okay, why do you call me then?"

She noticed Setsuna looking away from her. He appeared a bit uneasy, making her wonder whether she had done something wrong, or asking a wrong question. Sighing, the black-haired Meister finally said, facing her again, "Just checking…your safety."

Blink

Blink

Blink, blink.

"Oh," Anna responded dumbly, unable to say something else, thunderstruck that Setsuna would actually worry about her. "Well, it's very nice of you."

The boy on the opposite line of her remained silent, not knowing what to talk about. He did not even want to call her in the first place. It was all Lockon's idea. The sapphire-eyed was also quiet, not sure how to react. After a long silence, he finally said, closing his eyes, "I'm cutting off the line now."

"O-okay," the blonde stammered a bit, but just before he closed the phone, she called him again, "Hey, Setsuna?"

Setsuna looked back at her, his eyes cold and his face expressionless.

The girl, on the other hand, was smiling sweetly at him. A bright cheerful grin plastered on her face. "Thank you for calling and…worrying about me."

Setsuna stared at her before nodded his head. For a second, Anna saw his solemn and cold expression melted, but considering him, she convinced herself that she was imagining things. Flashing him another smile, she bid him a good-bye and closed the line. The device was placed back on her handbag securely. Opening the door for herself, she entered the car and sat down next to Liu Mei. Soon enough, the car started to move.

"You appear happy, Anna," Liu Mei noted, feeling a sense of joy radiating from the girl sitting next to her.

Anna grinned sheepishly, swinging her legs back and forth. A soft blush appeared on her cheeks and she quickly cupped her warm cheeks with both hands. Actually, she did not know why, but she felt so elated that Setsuna would actually care for her. Even though it was only a simple short call, the blonde was still happy that he called. He always kept a distance from her – not that he was friendly with the others – it lit up something in her heart to know he had a tiniest bit of affection for her.

The happy grin remained in her face for the rest of the journey, on the car and on the linear train, and she was simply unable to contain the warm feeling spreading in her heart.

[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]

"What did she say?" Lockon asked, taking off his helmet, as nonchalantly as he could, trying to hide his curiosity, when he saw Setsuna descended down Exia.

The man frowned when Setsuna did not reply, only took off his helmet, sat down on a rock next to him, and stared into empty space. He was a bit worried about the youngest Mister since he appeared slightly astounded. Did something bad happen? No, it could not be the case. If something went wrong, Setsuna would more likely jump into Exia and just launch without a word.

What could have happened then, that made Setsuna so quiet? He had no idea.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," Lockon stated carelessly, not wanting to force the younger Meister to talk, as he leaned back against the rocky wall.

"Thank you," Setsuna murmured.

Lockon's eyes opened wide and he jerked up from his position at those words. As far as he remembered, the teenager never used those words before, not to him, not to others. He immediately got into a sitting position, turning his head swiftly towards Setsuna, and exclaimed in a surprise tone. "What?"

Sighing, Setsuna closed his eyes and bent forward slightly, placing his lower arms on his thighs and his hands in between them, "She said 'thank you'."

"O-oh," Lockon rubbed his forehead, still recovering from his shock. "Well, it's a lot like Anna."

The black-haired Meister only nodded curtly. His mind returned to the conversation he had just then. Anna thanked him, for something so simple and insignificant, but it had made him thought of another thing, something bigger. When was the last time someone thanking him? A rush of memory inexorably entered his mind…

"_Mum, I've bought it!" a little Setsuna said as he entered his house, extending his arm to give a bag of groceries to his mother._

"_Oh, you do a great job," his mother said, smiling and taking the bag from him, checking the groceries._

_She patted his head and said with a smile, "Thank you."_

He mentally winced at the memory. Since Anna came, she had caused so many of his past memories to return, his painful memories. Forcefully, he pushed aside his memories and his conversation with Anna, and an image of Anna. He did not want to recall the event happened on his past and if he kept thinking about her, he was sure the memories would not leave him. He was slightly irritated that her presence had caused the rush of memories he had wished to lock deep inside his mind. He did not want to remember his old-self.

"_Yes,_" he mentally reminded himself, "_Right now I'm a Gundam Meister, Exia's Gundam Meister Setsuna F. Seiei._"

"Hey, Setsuna," Lockon broke Setsuna's trance, his turquoise eyes fixed on the screen of his communication device. "It's begun."

[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]

People were watching the news in the Tokyo Special Economic Zone. The first topic was the attack on the High Orbital Station, a part of the HRL's Pillar of Heaven Space Elevator. The crowd watched attentively as the news revealed the incident to the public, starting from the terrorists' attack until the unknown units that stopped them.

"What? What? What's going on?" a girl with a long-blonde hair, named Louise Halevy, asked.

The person sat on a chair near her answered, "These guys took out the terrorists."

Besides her stood a brown-haired boy called Saji Crossroad asked for further information, "From which military?"

The man shrugged, and the boy pondered curiously, confused.

The news reporter suddenly cut off the video recording. "We have breaking news. We at JNN have just received a video message from the group that prevented the terrorist attack. Their identity and their true intention remain unclear, but it is clear that they have a strong connection with this incident."

"We will be airing the footage uncut, so please watch closely."

The video was shown, revealing a middle-aged man with a monocle sitting down on a chair. He was bald, with moustache and beard, and dressed in formal wear.

"_This is an announcement for all mankind who have been raised on Earth. We are Celestial Being. We are the paramilitary organisation that possesses the mobile weapon, Gundam. Celestial Being's goal is to demolish the act of war in this world. We will not act to make profit. We stand for a greater goal of eradicating war."_

"_Now we have a proclamation for all humankind. No matter the reason, against all deeds of war, we will do all that is in our power to intervene. Countries which are indulged in war, organisation, enterprise, and others, will be faced with our armed forces."_

"_We are Celestial Being, a paramilitary organisation that exists to eradicate war. I repeat…"_

Turning off the screen, Lockon murmured, "It's begun. It can't be stopped."

"Can't be stopped, can't be stopped!" Haro repeated, bouncing on the ground.

"We picked a fight against the world. Got it, Setsuna?" Lockon turned to his partner.

"Yeah, I know." Setsuna looked up to his Gundam.

Exia and Dynames were both leaning on a big boulder, standing tall undisturbed.

"We're Celestial Being's…Gundam Meisters."

[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]

_**Spoiler for the next chapter:**_

"_It's our second mission!" Liu Mei announced with a broad smile._

_Lockon patted her head twice and knelt down to her level, smiling. "Wait here for our return, okay?"_

"_Okay," Anna replied with a small hesitant smile, looking at the older man then to the black-haired teenager standing behind him, "Be safe, the two of you."_

_After the last slash to the enemy suit, successfully destroying the robot, the pilot of Exia let the arms of his mobile suit hung on each sides of its body. "This is what being a Gundam Meister mean."_

_A Flag flew out of the aircraft carrier and immediately advanced towards Exia with a high speed. Exia took out his sword and prepared itself for the upcoming inevitable combat. The Flag transformed from its plane shape to the battle mode, into its robot shape. A gasp of surprise escaped the Meister's lips. It was faster than a common Flag. Taking a beam saber, the robot clashed its weapon with the white-and-blue Gundam._

"_Pleased to meet you, Gundam!" A voice rang from the communication system of the Flag, with a tint of excitement on it._

_As the Flag further confronted Exia, pushing it slightly to the back, Setsuna struggled hard against it and managed to ask the attacker, "Who are you?"_

_Smirking, the pilot answered him. "I'm Graham Acre, the man whose heart your existence has stolen!"_

_Looking up to the vermillion sky, she whispered softly, "I have a feeling that something's going to change, forever."_

_[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]_

_A/N: What do you think? Good? Bad? Review?_

_Thank you a lot to reviewers of chapter 3. I appreciate them a lot!_


End file.
